Great Violinists And Pianists eBook

The career of Paganini was at this critical period
fast drawing to a close. His medical advisers
recommended him to return at once to the South, fearing
that the winter would kill him in Paris. He died
at Nice on May 27, 1840, aged fifty-six years.
He left to his legitimized son Achille, the offspring
of his liaison with the singer Antonia Bianchi,
a fortune of eighty thousand pounds, and the title
of baron, of which he had received the patent in Germany.
His beautiful Guarnerius violin, the vehicle of so
many splendid artistic triumphs, he bequeathed to the
town of Genoa, where he was born. Though Paganini
was superstitious, and died a son of Holy Church,
he did not leave any money in religious bequests,
nor did he even receive the last sacraments. The
authorities of Rome raised many difficulties about
the funeral, and it was only after an enormous amount
of trouble and expense that Achille was able to have
a solemn service to the memory of his father performed
at Parma. It was five years after Paganini’s
death that this occurred, and permission was obtained
to have the body removed to holy ground in the village
churchyard near the Villa Gajona. During this
long period the dishonored remains of the illustrious
musician were at the hospital of Nice, where the body
had been embalmed, and afterward at a country place
near Genoa, belonging to the family. The superstitious
peasantry believed that strange noises were heard
about the grave at night—­the wailings of
the unsatisfied spirit of Paganini over the unsanctified
burial of its earthly shell. It was to end these
painful stories that the young baron made a final
determined effort to placate the ecclesiastical authorities.

VI.

The singular personality of Paganini displayed itself
in his private no less than in his artistic life,
and a few out of the many anecdotes told of him will
be of interest, as throwing fresh light on the man.
Paganini was accused of being selfish and miserly,
of caring little even for his art, except as a means
of accumulating money. While there is much in
his life to justify such an indictment, it is no less
true that he on many occasions displayed great generosity.
He was always willing to give concerts for the benefit
of his fellow-artists and for other charitable purposes,
and on more than one occasion bestowed large sums of
money for the relief of distress. We may assume
that he was niggardly by habit and generous by impulse.
Utterly ignorant of everything except the art of music,
bred under the most unfortunate and demoralizing conditions,
the fact that his character was, on the whole, so naive
and upright, speaks eloquently for the native qualities
of his disposition. His eccentricities, perhaps,
justified the unreasoning vulgar in believing that
he was slightly crazed. His appearance and manner
on the platform were fantastic in the extreme, and
rarely failed to provoke ridicule, till his magic